FILE PHOTO: Tennis - Italian Open - Foro Italico, Rome, Italy - May 10, 2023 Ukraine's Elina Svitolina in action during her round of 128 match against Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
Ukraine's Elina Svitolina won her first title as a mother, defeating Anna Blinkova of Russia 6-2, 6-3 in the final on Saturday at the Internationaux de Strasbourg in France.
Once ranked No. 3 in the World, Svitolina entered the tournament ranked No. 508 after taking a year off from competition as she gave birth to her daughter, Skai. And this week in Lyon, France, she appeared to return to form, dropping just one set on the way to her 17th career singles title.
Against Blinkova, Svitolina converted seven of her 13 break opportunities and won six straight games -- the final three of the first set and the first three of the second set -- to take control of the 94-minute match.
It was the first win for Svitolina since her 2021 victory in Chicago. Blinkova was looking for her second career victory.
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Lucia Bronzetti of Italy won her first WTA singles title, defeating Julia Grabher of Austria 6-4, 5-7, 7-5.
Bronzetti, ranked No. 102 in the world, needed two hours, 48 minutes to win on the clay courts of Rabat, Morocco. She was a semifinalist there in 2022.
With the match tied at one set each, Bronzetti was trailing 3-1 in the third set. But she rebounded, breaking her opponent's serve three times in the set to take a 6-5 lead. Bronzetti served out for the match win.
Grabher also was attempting to grab her first career win.
--Field Level Media
